Just Before Dawn
by Shooting Star Sky Saint
Summary: Sometimes life deals an odd hand and Danny is just finding that out when he's diagnosed with a rare condition. Disease/syndrome fic.


"_We have to get out of here_!"

Danny shouted this immediately after he awoke screaming.

"Pride and Prejudice!"

The entire English class gaped at the young teen like he had an arrow through his head. Until Dash burst out laughing. "Fenturd's got a screw loose!"

Danny turned around so quickly he could've broken his neck. His eyes glared darts of fear into Dash, growing ever wider with each breath he took. "Are you deaf? Didn't you hear that!"

"What? The sound of you screaming like a wuss!"

"That explosion!" Danny's eyes darted in every possible direction. "Where'd it come... from?"

Suddenly Danny's gaze lightened, no one was panicking, nothing was on fire, and there wasn't a ghost nearby. The teen forcibly slowed his breathing to a hectic calm, but his nerves were set ablaze with adrenaline and fear. There wasn't an explosion, nothing was happening except-

"Can I get back to teaching my class now, Mr. Fenton?" Lancer was tapping his finger impatiently. A river of red blushed on Danny's cheeks he sunk further into his chair and spoke an uncertain approval and apology to his teacher.

Danny slumped for a bit, occasionally hearing the onslaughts of chuckles and comments like 'weirdo freak' and 'he's crazy'.

"Dude, are you okay?"

Danny glanced back at his best friend and grimaced, "I'm sure I heard something explode."

"Maybe you were just dreaming?"

"No Tuck, this was real. It's like I could actually hear it right beside me..."

"Maybe it's a new power," Sam whispered, joining in.

Danny shrugged. He didn't know. He really just didn't know. And the only thing Danny did know was that that explosion he heard was as real as the Box Ghost's-

Danny shivered just as his ghost sense went off. Well crud, he jinxed himself. With a tiresome scowl, Danny raised his hand.

"Yes, Mr. Fenton?"

"Can I go to the bathroom?"

"... go on then."

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><p>Ever since school ended Danny had not heard a single explosive sound. The teen mentally shrugged and gave up, perhaps he was just dreaming. And speaking of dreaming, Danny's eyelids fluttered to stay open throughout the movie. Sam and Tucker were at his side watching the cinematic movie the goth girl had invited them to see. Danny was barely staying awake after fighting ghosts for... he yawned, it was too much effort to count the hours, or days.<p>

Sneakily, Danny shut his eyes and leaned back into his seat. A grin eased on his lips as he slowly, softly slid into a serene state. His body relaxed, his heart slowed, his mind fell into a hibernation, and his ears exploded.

**_BOOM!_**

Blue eyes snapped open. Fear quivered in them as Danny screamed and jumped to his feet. Before his friends could do anything, Danny dived to the ground and took them with him.

"Danny what're you doing?"

But Danny couldn't hear them. The cackling shots of explosions detonated so damn close to him. He could hear it and oh god he could feel it.

Danny's eyes searched the cinema room but to his unevenness there was nothing amiss. Nerves blistered with alerts, commanding Danny to act on his fear but his brain quickly fought the instinct and forced Danny to think.

Think rationally?

Yes, rationally. No, reasonably.

But the explosion came to an end. Startled, Danny blinked several times. The sound came to a sudden halt. It just stopped. Like a scratched record.

Danny blinked a few seconds more, his mouth agape and gasping from surprise and trigger.

"Danny?"

Sam's voice guided Danny to look at her but his vision was blurry and exploding... exploding with lights of bubblegum colors. His body was shaking, aching with instinct and fear running raw through his veins. Danny's skin was as pale as his ghost form and flooding with sweat.

Sam didn't need to ask what happened to make Danny act like that. He looked the exact same way he did in class today, Sam burrowed her brow in worry and gently took his trembling hand into hers.

"Danny... you need a doctor."

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><p>It took a lot of convincing but the Fenton parents finally succumbed to taking their son to a doctor. Sam and Tucker were relieved, they never would've been able to persuade them if not for Jazz's help.<p>

Danny stayed at the doctor's for what seemed like a day but was really only an hour. Well, sixty minutes of tests and questions, then finally the doctor came up with a diagnosis and very actively announced it.

"My son's head is going to explode!" Jack shouted, panicked. He promptly bear hugged Danny tightly enough to make him cringe. "Noooo! It can't end like this!"

"Mr. Fenton, your son's head is fine. It's his brain that's not." The doctor sat down on a stool and looked both Maddie and Jack in the eyes, he occasionally looked at Danny in the middle and with good reason. He looked sickly pale and confused. "What your son has is a rare parasomnia, a sleep disorder." The doctor focused on Danny and asked, "Have you been hearing a loud bang every time you try to fall asleep?"

Danny blinked. "Yeah... well, it's more of an explosion."

The doctor nodded. "When did these explosions occur?"

"About a week back."

"Are you involved in loud noises on a daily basis?"

"Uhh..." Danny thought about his parents' latest firework display, it was just yesterday. "Sort of."

The doctor wrote this down. Maddie interjected, "What does Danny need to stop these... sounds?"

The doctor looked grimly at her and answered, "I'm sorry Mrs. Fenton, but there isn't medication for Exploding Head Syndrome. Danny will need to see a sleep specialist to sort out this problem."

Maddie was hesitant to talk any more. However Jack blurted out, "So Danny will always here BOOMS in his head?"

Danny gulped nervously, that he did not want for the rest of his life.

"Not necessarily, but I can't give you a clear answer. I don't have much information on this syndrome because there hadn't been enough research done on it. It's a very rare disease that can pop in out of no where. Danny could possibly have Exploding Head Syndrome until tomorrow," he bored his eyes straight into Danny, "or for the rest of your life."

"That's bad," Danny mumbled, "very bad."

* * *

><p>Danny almost fell asleep on the drive home, but he woke up screaming soon after. When at home, Danny dragged himself upstairs exhausted and worn. He'd just found out he had a rare sleeping disorder that could stick with him for the rest of his life and hadn't had a wink of sleep since forever.<p>

"Are you going to try tonight?" Jazz asked as Danny carried himself to his room. He nodded and smiled at her. "I got a trick up my sleeve."

Jazz smiled back. "Goodnight then, little brother."

Danny shifted into his pajamas and slid into bed. Reaching under, Danny pulled out his iPod and plugged earphones into it. He shoved the buds into his ears, lied down on the pillow, and grinned mischievously. "I won't hear a thing but music."

So Danny shuffled and played all his songs. The teen slowly closed his eyes, breathed in, and felt himself dive into darkness.

No booms... no... no...

With one last yawn, Danny fell asleep with a grin on his lips.

...

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...

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...

...

...

...

...

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...

...

...

_Bombardment_.

That's what Danny woke up to. His lips cracked open and vocals tore a shriek from his trachea, high pitched and haunting. The room shook and snarled around the teen but nothing fazed him.

Danny's shoulders jerked up violently, the raw tension of neurons twitching and locking unnerved him, but it wasn't painful just uncomfortable... the explosion detonated like a fuse. Sharp and precise.

Danny gripped his head and trembled. The explosions, they weren't stopping! They were going off over and over like a chain reaction. Danny wanted to wail even louder but sealed his lips shut to silence any more damage. Now it was just _him_ listening to nuclear bombs festering in his lobes.

Danny hissed loudly, the instinct of fight or flight was rampaging through his muscles, pumping his heart with hormone laced blood. Danny shook harder but remained silent.

It wasn't going to end, was it?

But it did. And Danny was relieved, he slumped further into his bed and squinted when a dash of sunlight pierced his iris.

It was morning, Danny realized. Blue eyes opened wider with a new discovery: Danny had fallen asleep. He was rested, full and deeply satisfied. Yes he had woken up with a bang, but it was morning.

_The sun was out_.

Danny smiled sheepishly, what was that quote Lancer had said in class?

_The night is darkest..._ Danny looked into the light and finished, _just before the dawn..._

Things will get better. Maybe today, or tomorrow, or next month, but someday things will be better. They always do and always will.

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><p><strong>Were the characters spot on or were they OOC? If there are any mistakes please don't be shy and tell me :) review and share your thoughts on this fic please also!<strong>

**To all, thank you for taking the time to read this little story. Exploding Head Syndrome is a real sleeping disorder that can appear to anyone, no matter the age or gender, but females are more likely to develop it. However, only a handful of cases are known worldwide, it is a very RARE disease and the chances of getting it are slim :) if I may have paranoid anyone out there, I am sorry and did not mean to do that.**

**Bye!**

**I do not own Danny Phantom.**


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